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Why Elves?
Among the myriad of established fantasy races, I continue to find elves captivating. They come in numerous forms and varieties, but I usually enjoy their presence as a reader and a writer.

A number of years ago, I’d written a short story around elves playing a game. There wasn’t much to the story, and it never sold before I locked it away, but on one of my rejections, an editor wrote: “Why elves?” Looking back, I realize the editor didn’t see anything in the plot requiring elves (likely because there wasn’t much of a plot). But at the time, I found it comical. What other race would I have used? For me, it was an exploration of this fascinating race, and I hoped to capture a slice of their lives.

Years later, I figured out that my failure in the story was a lack of plot. I had characters playing a game of no consequence in a generic setting. My next attempt was to take a human character and thrust him into the elves’ environment. What this allowed was an entry-level point of view – someone with limited knowledge of elves who would take everything in and point out anything he found curious or unusual. The character’s observations were my observations as I dreamed of their world and what they were like.

The challenge in writing about elves is to avoid clichés without violating key aspects that make elves what they are. In the end, it becomes a balancing act. But what I find most alluring about elves is their illusiveness - the ineffable qualities that humanity cannot understand. Whether it’s their craftsmanship, magic, language, longevity or intelligence – there are aspects of elves beyond my grasp. Regardless of what I might create, I always want to retain an enigma around them.

Ironically, the mystery I admire creates a superiority I detest. Because elves have inexplicable skills, humans become inferior. And the elves know it. In some stories, humans are prey to the elves’ amoral (or perhaps immoral) whims. Even Tolkien’s elves had a darker side, according to their deeds recorded in The Silmarillion.

Despite their arrogance, I won’t shun the elves. I’m drawn toward them, like so many stories of humans discovering the fey folk in the deep woods, never to return. We need more elves in today’s fantasy.

On Writing Well
For Christmas, one of the gifts I received was On Writing Well by William Zinsser. This is a resource I highly recommend for all writers, regardless of the type of writing you do - yes, even bloggers.

The subtitle indicates that the book is a style guide for writing nonfiction. While this is true, fiction writers can learn a great deal from the book as well. The principles of good style apply to all writers.

One of the things I enjoyed about the book was that Zinsser didn’t universally dismiss adverbs (they often come under attack by writing guides). Instead, he advocates simplicity and specificity. If there is a verb that connotes the adverb plus verb you started with, replace the two words with one. It isn’t that adverbs are evil, but they are often used unskillfully, resulting in clutter.

Zinsser calls attention to the loose style so many of us employ without thinking. In fact, it is precisely because we fail to think that we fail to write well. Rather than questioning the words and phrases we choose, we mimic the clunky jargon that surrounds us in the media and daily conversations.

If you want to improve your writing - again, even you, bloggers - and you’re willing to honestly examine your work, this book will illuminate flaws. I plan on keeping this one on my desk next to the dictionary.

Research
It’s important to take the time to do research for fiction. Research for fiction? Yes.

With any story, there are details around the plot, characters and setting which may touch reality. For example, I might write a story set in Paris. Regardless of how much fiction exists within the story, if I were to mention something inconsistent with Paris due to a lack of research, I would come out looking rather foolish.

I think this ties into why people use the adage: write what you know. While that can certainly save time – relying upon person experience – there are inevitably areas you don’t know anything about.

Even within fantasy writing, there are aspects of reality we need to research. Subjects I’ve researched for fantasy stories include horses, armies, armor, swords (and weapons in general), languages and medieval history.

I will say that bombarding the reader with researched facts risks boring the reader. But carefully entwining those facts in an interesting way will help the reader feel like an insider with the narrator and feel grounded within factual boundaries. If a writer fakes facts, it cheats the reader. As a reader, I would rather the writer avoid details than give false ones.

Take the time to look things up before you write (or at least before you complete the final draft). Your readers will appreciate the work.